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A federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration's addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. In the first major ruling on the controversial question, U.S. District Judge Furman of New York's Southern District court ordered the administration to stop its plans to add the question to the survey "without curing the legal defects" identified in his opinion.

WASHINGTON - A group of rank-and-file House Democrats turned down an invitation to have lunch with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a snub that underscores the extraordinary divisions that have brought negotiations over the government shutdown to a standstill. The invited Democrats, including centrist-leaning freshman and sophomore members, skipped the meeting amid calls for unity from Democratic leaders and fellow lawmakers who had voiced concerns the meeting would be little more than a photo opportunity that bolsters Trump.

WASHINGTON - A panel of Republican leaders voted unanimously Monday to keep veteran Iowa lawmaker Steve King off of House committees, a firm rebuke to an influential opponent of illegal immigration who sparked outrage last week after openly questioning whether the term "white supremacist" was offensive. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the decision by the Republican Steering Committee, which seats lawmakers on House committees, followed his own recommendation and was meant to send a message about the GOP at large.

Netflix is raising U.S. subscription prices 13 to 15 percent in the biggest rate increase in its history, the company announced Tuesday. Although the company has raised prices in the past, this is the first increase that will be applied to all 58 million U.S. subscribers, as well as subscribers in 40 countries in Latin America where Netflix bills in U.S. dollars. The most popular subscription plan will now cost $13 a month, up from $11. The cheapest subscription will cost $8.99, up from $7.99.

SUWANNEE COUNTRY, Fla. - Three young children were playing outside their mobile home in rural Florida when something caught their attention - a chest freezer that was sitting on the lawn, unplugged, waiting to be put to use. A mother of one of the children had gone inside to use the restroom and, when she returned, the children were gone, authorities said. Authorities said the trio had climbed inside the appliance and closed the door - inadvertently latching a metal hasp that had been installed for a padlock. Investigators believe that it trapped them inside.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday refused to force the government to pay federal employees who have been working without compensation during the partial government shutdown, rejecting arguments from labor unions that unpaid work violates labor laws and the Constitution. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said it would be "profoundly irresponsible" to issue an order that would result in thousands of employees staying home from work.

WASHINGTON - Special counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday asked a federal judge to again delay sentencing for Rick Gates, saying the top deputy to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort continues to cooperate with investigators. The request was joined by his defense team. "Defendant Gates continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations, and accordingly the parties do not believe it is appropriate to commence the sentencing process," both sides wrote in a one-page update for U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District.

It started last week with a simple question in the Canadian city of Edmonton. Air traffic controllers there wondered how they could help their counterparts in Anchorage, with whom they frequently communicated over the airwaves - and who were closing in on three weeks of a U.S. government shutdown, working without pay. The Edmonton air traffic controllers opted for a universal symbol of goodwill: They sent pizzas. It was a "small gesture of kindness," the president of the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association would tweet later, but a "big gesture of solidarity."

Carlos Mark Vera looked nervous. It was mid-November in a private room upstairs at the Monocle, the longtime haunt of Capitol Hill's gentry, where signed photos of aged congressmen line the walls like movie-star headshots in a Hollywood dry cleaner. Their faded stares and the restaurant's austere setting were doing little to calm Vera before his guests had arrived. "Everything is late," he said in his clipped, speedy cadence as he glanced at the clock. He watched as the tiny crew he'd gathered hung banners and rearranged tables to maximize mingling. Fifteen minutes to go.

Carol Channing, the raspy-voiced, saucer-eyed, wide-smiling actress who played lead roles in the original Broadway musical productions of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "Hello, Dolly!" and delivered an Oscar-nominated performance in the 1967 movie musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie," died Jan. 15 at her home in Rancho Mirage, California. She was 97. Her publicist, B. Harlan Boll, announced the death and said the cause was two strokes in the last year.